A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #363 - Anti-Patriarchy - International Day for the Right to Abortion: From the Right to Abortion to Reproductive Justice (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

September 28 is the International Day for the Right to Safe and Legal 
Abortion. This day is not a UN commemoration but a feminist action day, 
born in Latin America. It is a day of actions worldwide. The 
international meetings (global dialogues) that will shape this year's 
September 28 have not yet taken place. ---- There is nothing to add to 
the observations and analyses from the article published last year in 
these same pages[1]. But it is an opportunity to discuss the situation 
in African countries. In 2003, the Protocol to the African Charter on 
Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (known as the 
Maputo Protocol) was adopted by the African Union, bringing together all 
the countries on the continent. It establishes a legal framework for all 
areas concerning women, including an article on health and reproductive 
rights.

Almost all countries have ratified it, sometimes with reservations, but 
many either do not implement the part on abortion at all or do so 
reluctantly and with many obstacles. It states: "States shall take all 
appropriate measures to[...]protect the reproductive rights of women by 
authorizing medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, 
and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical 
health of the mother or the life of the mother or the fetus."

A Right with Shifting Boundaries
Worldwide, about 55% of abortions are safe. In Africa, only 24% are. And 
the mortality rate linked to abortion is the highest of any region: 185 
deaths per 100,000 abortions[2]. It must be constantly repeated: the ban 
on abortion results only in preventable deaths of women[3].

When abortion is permitted, the right is usually restricted by 
conditions that vary by country: threat to the physical or mental health 
of the woman, socioeconomic criteria, rape... Tunisia (since 1973, 
though with uneven implementation), South Africa, Mozambique, Cape 
Verde, and Benin allow unrestricted access.

In Morocco, abortion is allowed only if the mother's health is at risk; 
otherwise, she faces six months to two years in prison. The Alternative 
Movement for Individual Freedoms (MALI) provides abortion pills for 
free, sourced from abroad. It is led by clinical psychologist Ibtissame 
Betty Lachgar, who was taken into police custody on August 11 for 
wearing a T-shirt reading "Allah is lesbian." The debate reignited in 
September 2023 after the death of Meryem, a 14-year-old who died 
following a clandestine abortion after a rape-induced pregnancy.

Ibtissame Lachgar, known as Betty Lachgar, born in August 1975 in Rabat, 
is a Moroccan human rights and feminist activist.
X/@IbtissameBetty

In Madagascar, abortion is totally banned. A feminist organization there 
is fighting for its legalization. It is called Nifin'Akanga, named after 
a traditional herbal abortifacient.

Cultural and Religious Colonialism
Africa is not isolated from reactionaries in the Global North. In May, 
Nairobi, Kenya's capital, hosted the second Pan-African Conference on 
Family Values. Although organized by the Forum of Christian 
Professionals of Africa, it was largely driven and funded by 
fundamentalist Christians from Europe and the United States. 
Unsurprisingly, the "family values" promoted included opposition to 
abortion and sex education. It is a form of cultural and religious 
colonialism as repugnant as economic colonialism.

Before Trump's second term, the United States provided nearly half of 
international aid funding for reproductive healthcare, with half going 
to African countries. These funding agreements have now been revoked, 
depriving countless women of contraception and information and likely 
causing many additional unsafe abortions.

A particularly telling symptom of this assault on women is the attempt 
(met with fierce resistance) to destroy $10 million worth of 
contraceptive products stored in Europe and destined for supported 
countries, including African nations. As of early August, this issue is 
ongoing. The abrupt end of all USAID funding has left many organizations 
and countries struggling-not only in the field of reproductive rights. 
The consequences of economic and political (and extractive) colonialism 
make such aid essential.

Expanding the Struggle
In 1994, what would become the reproductive justice movement[4]was born 
when Black women in the United States critically challenged the 
mainstream "pro-choice" movement. The latter focused only on the right 
to abortion and individual choice, without addressing the social and 
material conditions that shape those choices. For some, the central 
demand was instead the ability to have and raise children in 
dignity-without intervention from social services and without the threat 
of police violence.

Coordinated by Elsa Dorlin, Feu! Abécédaire des féminismes présents, 
Libertalia, 2021, 736 pages, EUR20.
Intersectionality is one of the foundations of this movement. Since 
1994, its main demands have been the right to have or not have children, 
the right to abortion, and the right to raise children under the best 
possible conditions. This framework encompasses many forms of 
oppression: reproductive coercion, forced or heavily promoted 
sterilizations, obstetric and gynecological violence, lack of education 
on sexual and reproductive health, gender-based and sexual violence. 
Activists for reproductive justice also address the role of state 
institutions: police violence, public housing.

This movement of Black women faces tensions, such as how to handle 
violence within the Black community or the reproduction of that 
community itself. Adopting this framework across the feminist movement 
means, as with intersectionality in general, reflecting on strategies to 
build closer ties with organizations of racialized, disabled, LGBTI, and 
refugee people. It is a framework rich with promises of collaboration 
and fruitful struggles-especially for abortion rights.

Christine (UCL Sarthe)

Valider

[1]"Droit à l'avortement: Un combat perpétuel et universel," Alternative 
libertaire no. 352, September 2024, 
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Droit-a-l-avortement-Un-combat-perpetuel-et-universel.
[2]Awa Cheikh Faye, "Droit à l'avortement: Un combat perpétuel et 
universel," BBC, 2021.
[3]This article speaks of women; however, it is important to remember 
that trans men and non-binary people may also need abortions.
[4]Nesrine Bessaï, "Justice reproductive," in Elsa Dorlin, Feu! 
Abécédaire des féminismes présents, Libertalia, 2021.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Journee-internationale-pour-le-droit-a-l-avortement-Du-droit-a-l-IVG-a-la
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